How Are Numbers Taught in Asia Compared to Western Countries?
When it comes to early math education, learning basic numeracy and developing a sense of numbers, Asian children consistently outperform their peers in the West. Many have looked into the intricacies of early math education in countries like China, Japan, and Korea. Without getting too deep into the research, let’s look at a few simple contrasting
Generate the Famous Fibonacci Sequence on The Abacus!
This is a transcript of the video. In this video we are going to take a look at an interesting activity using our soroban to generate the famous Fibonacci Number Sequence. Any term in the sequence is generated by summing the two previous terms. To generate term #7 which is the number 13, you would
The Abacus – A Math Manipulative Students Will Use for Life
Teachers in schools around the world experiment with lots of different math manipulatives to help children visualize and conceptualize the meaning of numeric symbols and basic math operations. We use number dice, cards, tiles and boards, connecting rods and blocks, two color counters and ten frames, number lines, place value blocks, dominoes and shape counters.
Build Calculation Speed Practicing the 10 Pair Complements
The main method of addition and subtraction on the abacus is understanding and using the 5 complement pairs of 10, i.e. pairs of numbers that add to 10. There are only 5 complement pairs in our base 10 numbering system: 9 and 1, 8 and 2, 7 and 3, 6 and 4, and 5 and 5. The faster
Take a Multi-Sensory Approach to Learn Arithmetic with Abacus Math
When we think about learning and learning efficiency we must consider how the brain receives information from the outside world. Most learning information we receive comes to us through our senses. We also know that the more different ways we can experience learning the deeper the learning experience. So what if we thought about learning
Tips and Thoughts on How to Develop Your Mental Math and Mental Calculation Skills?
To develop strong mental calculation skills, i.e. mental math, we first need to learn the required bead movements on the abacus. The entire concept of mental calculation is based on the knowledge of the soroban bead movements needed to solve the problem. But knowing how to move the beads to solve a problem is not enough for
An Effective Mental Math Tool – The Paper Abacus or Kami Soroban
This is an introduction to using a mental math tool called the Kami Soroban or Paper Soroban. The Kami Soroban will help students develop strong mental images of the abacus bead movements used to during mental calculation. As students progress through their abacus math training, they naturally develop the ability to visualize all the same
5 Great Reasons Why Children Should Learn Math Using an Abacus
Reason #1: Number Sense and Basic Numeracy All students must develop a sense for numbers, what numbers represent, and basic fluency. Unfortunately most students don’t have a good grasp on these basic core math skills. PEW Research shows 35% of 4th graders are below basic math understanding. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, only
How to Practice Every Abacus Bead Movement in One Exercise
For this activity you will need to have completed all of the Skill Training program on RightLobeMath.com or know all the bead movements for any addition or subtraction. Basically you should be at least a beginning Level 10 abacus student to practice this exercise. In this exercise we are going to add the number 123,456,789
What are the Foundations of Basic Numeracy and Number Sense?
We all understand the importance of math education especially early math education. Math education is built on the foundations of basic numeracy and number sense. Students learning math must understand how to represent, recognize, and count using our base10 numbering system. The abacus is one the most efficient ways to represent any number by assigning the